The victory of the "convinced"
A young teenager proudly returns home and announces to his parents that he passed his exam, handing them his paper with a grade of 3/20 written on it. A failing grade, certainly, but for the student, it's a victory!
And why not, really? Hezbollah proclaimed its own victory, in a psychologically charged moment, this Friday, April 17th, in a festive atmosphere, where its supporters let their joy erupt, along with the shells of B7s and RPGs; bursts of fire from their tracer-bullet machine guns lit up the sky for more than forty minutes. A veritable sound and light show over the capital, declared a demilitarized zone just a few hours earlier at a conference…
A divine victory (repeatedly) that will in no way be tainted by considerations such as the human and material toll, however heavy it may be. No matter the deaths, the injuries, the destruction, the scorched earth and the occupation of the South, the economic consequences, etc., as long as the militia's leaders, despite being educated and knowledgeable, advocate and proclaim such nonsense, and what's worse, believe it themselves.
The presence of a brain doesn't necessarily imply its use. This is precisely why brainwashing others is so easy.
Not only does Hezbollah make decisions for all Lebanese, but it also thinks for its own supporters. While the Israeli army has severed communication links between the south and the north (across the Litani River), Hezbollah leaders have managed to sever the neural connections of their henchmen, to such an extent that, in their logic (if they have any), doubting their victory is tantamount to siding with the enemy.
More than 2,200 dead, so what? There are wars where the numbers are significantly higher, therefore victory!
More than 40 villages literally razed to the ground, so what? It's just stone, it can be rebuilt, therefore victory!
More than ten kilometers of the country occupied, so what? On May 25th, we'll celebrate "liberation" day, and it will be a public holiday, therefore victory!
It is thus humanly impossible to convince a vanquished that they are truly vanquished.
And since it seems that reality has become a variable to be adjusted, why stop now? It will suffice to change the words and their meanings to transform the facts.
At this rate, every retreat will become a strategic advance, every loss proof of gain, every defeat a misunderstood victory, sovereignty a flexible concept, destruction a form of investment, death a new life, and above all, thinking for oneself is treason.
After all, when a lie is repeated loudly and for long enough, it eventually becomes truthful to those who have stopped checking. However, the most worrying thing is not that some people are trying to rewrite reality, but that many people seem ready to believe it without even rereading it.